ENJOYING SUNDAY THE RIGHT WAY
ISAIAH 58:13-14
INTRODUCTION: In Isaiah 58 we see God speaking concerning the religious activity of the children of Israel during the Babylonian captivity. He addresses and gives stern condemnation of their religious forms and ceremonies calling for genuine demonstration of faith in God. God then goes on to center in on one area that if observed properly would prominently testify to the world of their faith and relationship to God – the proper observance of the Sabbath. As believers who celebrate the Lord’s Day, we can learn from what God told Israel about the Sabbath and how you and I can enjoy the Lord’s Day the right way.
While the subject of Sunday observance may not be popular today nevertheless it is important. First let us consider how Israel abused the Sabbath and how Christians have been guilty of similar abuses of the Lord’s Day and then consider how I believe God would have us observe it.
I. Sunday Observance – Legalistically
A. Deuteronomy 5:14 "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou."
B. During the Maccabean period of Jewish history a number of zealous Jews pushed to excess the idea of resting on the Sabbath. They went to the point that they forbade even self-defense on the Sabbath in time of war.
C. John 5:16 "And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day."
D. John 9:16 "Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keeps not the Sabbath day..."
E. Luke 13:14-16 "And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"
F. Matthew 15:8-9 "This people draws nigh unto me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. [9] But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
G. In 1610, in Virginia, the first Sunday law in America required church attendance of all, and decreed death upon the third offense.
H. Captain Kemble, of Boston, was, in 1656, set for two hours in the public stocks, for his ’lewd and unseemly behavior,’ which consisted of kissing his wife in public on a Sunday morning on the doorstep of their home upon his return from a three-year ocean voyage.
I. A man who, having fallen into the creek while on his way to church, had returned home to dry his only suit of clothes, was found guilty and "publicly whipped."
J. Sunday travel for any purpose not specifically permitted was subject to fine and imprisonment. George Washington, the newly elected President of the United States, narrowly missed such a fine or imprisonment for this offense as he was traveling to the nation’s capitol to take office in 1789.
K. Just like the Pharisee’s of ancient times, some would take make the Lord’s day anything but enjoyable by forcing rules and regulations to be rigidly followed and as Christ said in Matthew 23:4 "… they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders…
II. Sunday Observance – Indulgently
A. At the time of our text, Israel, in captivity, was dwelling in the midst of the pagan Babylonian culture. To the Babylonians, the Sabbath meant absolutely nothing. It was just another day of work or activity.
B. Many of the Jews had been influenced by the culture and were inclined to a mere slovenly indifferent observance of the Sabbath.
C. They held that once they performed all the Levitical requirements, offering the legal sacrifices and attending the “holy convocation” the rest of the day was to be used as they pleased. They carried out every form of commerce and activity to the point that there was no distinction to the Sabbath.
D. This practice spilled over to the Jews in Israel that Nehemiah observed having returned from captivity. Nehemiah 13:15-16 "In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. [16] There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem."
E. “Our great-grandfathers called it the holy Sabbath; our grandfathers, the Sabbath; our fathers, Sunday; but today we call it the weekend.”
F. Sunday used to be a day of rest but in recent years it seems that too many of us wind up having to spend the other six days resting up from Sunday.
III. Sunday Observance – Properly
A. Making it a distinct day
1. God wanted Israel to demonstrate the reality of their religion. The importance of Israel observing the Sabbath in Babylon was that it publicly witnessed to all around Israel’s separation from the Babylonish culture and religion and their allegiance to God.
2. Isaiah 58:13 "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:"
3. “If you treat the Sabbath with respect…”
4. As well as testifying to the covenant relationship between Israel and God, the Sabbath was a day that commemorated the crowning work of creation as evidenced by the words of Genesis. (Genesis 2:2-3) "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. [3] And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”
5. The Lord’s Day commemorates not the crowning work of creation but the crowning work of redemption and testifies to the new covenanted relationship the Christian has as a born-again child of God. We know that the early church gave special honor to Sunday, the first day of the week. Every week on that day they celebrated His resurrection and met for worship and instruction (1 Corinthians 16:2)
6. Sunday is a continual proclamation of the message of Easter: Christ is risen. – Gustave Wingren
B. Making it an enjoyable day
1. Isaiah 58:13-14 "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."
2. There is a paradox stated here. We are not to seek or do our own pleasure on the day but to find pleasure in the day.
3. God’s people should look forward to Sunday as times of refreshment, revival, and renewal.
4. Psalms 122:1 "A Song of degrees of David. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD."
5. Too many approach Sundays with the attitude of: You see, God, it’s like this: we would attend church more faithfully if your day came at some other time. You have chosen a day that comes at the end of a hard week, and we’re all tired out. Not only that, but it’s the day following Saturday night, and Saturday night is one time when we feel that we should go out and enjoy ourselves. Often it is after midnight when we reach home, and it is impossible to get up on Sunday morning. We’d like to go to church and know we should; but you have just chosen the wrong day. [Edythe Draper, Draper’s Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992). Entries 10960-10961.]
6. Psalms 37:4 "Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."
C. Making it a God honoring day
1. Isaiah 58:13-14 "… call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure…”
2. The Southern Baptist Faith and Message states that we believe that the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
3. Billy Graham was asked about working on Sunday to which he replied. “It should not detract from a man’s reverence to do what s required. Even Jesus spoke about an ox in the ditch on the Sabbath. But if your ox gets in the ditch every Sabbath, you should either get rid of the ox or fill up the ditch.” (Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate)
4. How you can honor the Lord’s Day
a. Don’t pursue your own interests, follow your own desires, or talk idly.
b. Enter into teaching, fellowship, self-examination, prayer with other Christians at church (Hebrews 10:24-5)
c. Give as God directs and blesses (1 Corinthians 16:2)
d. Make Sunday a day of spiritual refreshment and physical rest (Is. 58:14)
